Another jewel weed flower

[Ryan Lepik]

Had to get up real early to capture this short. Camera Canon 40D, Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens & pop-up flash, f7.1, ISO200 at 1/250th sec. Hand held.

[Gus Cobos]

Very nice Ryan.
I like your composition. The details and colors are fantastic. The black background makes your subject stand out...good show...congrats...:cool:

[Julie Kenward]

Ryan, I like the sharpness on the dew but this looks overflashed to me. I have a Canon 40D with a pop-up flash and found that it works much better if I use a diffuser with it. Lumiquest makes one that fits right over the camera's pop-up flash and it costs less than $20 - it really helps take the hot spots out of using a pop-up flash.

That said, there are several areas where you've lost all detail in the water drops I'd clone as many of those out as possible and that should help keep the image looking so "flashed." I would also like to see a little less dark space at the bottom of the image and a bit more of the stem instead.

[Ryan Lepik]

Thanks for the defuser tip, I'll get one & as you say the water drops are perhaps a bit too sparkly.

[Robert O'Toole]

Great looking specimen Ryan. Sharp and a nice comp.

As Julie mentioned the image looks over flashed. Its not only a diffusion problem but really a flash control problem. This looks like a normal flash as main light image because of the harsh look and the black BG. With this type of image I would set up the camera for available light then tape a sheet or paper or index card to the front of the flash and set the flash in manual ( the 40D is the first canon to have manual flash settings I believe) or at least -2 or something. This would use the ambient light and use the flash as fill not to light the subject. This would give the image an entirely different look.

Robert

[Ryan Lepik]

Your advice is appreciated, thanks. In maco photography you are never too old to learn new tricks.